villainsfandomcom-20200225-history
John Garrett (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
|type of villain = Traitorous Mastermind}} John Garrett, also known as the Clairvoyant, is the main antagonist of Season 1 of the TV series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and a posthumous antagonist in the subsequent seasons. He is a turncoat S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who joined the ranks of HYDRA and intended on creating an army of super-soldiers through the Centipede Project. He also planned on finding the drug that saved his former old friend Phil Coulson to save his own life. He is also the mentor and father figure of future HYDRA leader Grant Ward. He was portrayed by the late , who also played Earl in 2 Guns, Severen in Near Dark, Randall McCoy in Hatfields & McCoys, and Chet Donnelly in Weird Science. Personality Garrett never frayed from using cruelty as means to an end. He used his decades at S.H.I.E.L.D. and Clearance Level 7 to earn respect and trust from his subordinates, including Coulson when in reality he was an agent of HYDRA who ruthlessly manipulated S.H.I.E.L.D.'s T.A.H.I.T.I. Project for his own goal; survival. Despite appearing a man of honor and principles there are occasions when Garrett would reveal his immorality such as during an interrogation when Ian Quinn spoke to him disrespectfully and was prepared to rip out his tongue, although this could just be a scare tactic. Like numerous agents of HYDRA, Garrett strongly believed that compassion was wrong and growing attachment to another person was "weakness". He manipulatively took advantage of a young Grant Ward when he was in a juvenile detention center, and when he was in need of a father figure. He abandoned Ward in the Wyoming wilderness, forcing him to survive on his own, then later making him kill his pet dog Buddy as he thought that he had grown too attached to his pet which he deemed another weakness. Garrett can be seen as a vituperative, abusive, and toxic father figure to Ward; while he did see potential in the young man and wanted to nurture this within him, his methods of doing so were extremely destructive and brutal, such as beating him remorselessly to convince him he was still "Grant Ward. Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D". Despite all of his cruelty towards him, Ward still owed Garrett everything and was even willing to betray Phil Coulson and his team, so far the only people who have shown him genuine kindness simply to please him. He had a tendency to bring out the worst in people and is easily charismatic and persuasive, able to inspire the utmost loyalty from the people he encounters such as Grant Ward and later, Raina. He was also not above emotional blackmail such as kidnapping Mike Peterson's son, Ace, to force him to obey. However, after being injected with the GH.325 drug, Garrett's personality warped even more; his sense of reality became lost as he claimed to feel the universe and know the true secrets of everything. Whether or not he actually knew everything he says he does is unknown, but the knowledge he had gained had driven him to insanity and become more arrogant, prophesying "the end" among other things, and knowing that the Inhumans, who were a total secret from S.H.I.E.L.D. (and even the viewers of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) up to that point, would rise up against the normal humans and take the Earth as their own. Even Grant Ward, the most-loyal of all his followers, questioned his sanity, telling Garrett to snap out of it while desperately begging for orders as S.H.I.E.L.D. was coming down on them. Powers and Abilities Abilities Being a high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Garrett was an expert marksman, had knowledge of a form of martial arts and was an excellent fighter pilot. As a master spy, he was able to fool even S.H.I.E.L.D. for decades that he'd betrayed them by joining HYDRA for revenge. Powers *'Centipede Serum': The Centipede Serum, in conjunction with Extremis, kept Garrett alive when his organic body began to fail him. While initially lacking any of the powers that Extremis granted its other users, the addition of GH.325 gave him far more power than he ever dare dream. **'Superhuman Strength': Garrett could throw a man across a room with a single punch, rip a man's rib out of their chests, and carve a hole in the chest of another. **'Superhuman Durability': Bullets had no actual effect on him, as shown when Nick Fury tried to kill him and failed. Even Deathlok's Forearm Rocket Launcher couldn't kill him, neither could being stepped-on by his cybernetic leg, although it left him heavily-scarred. Only Coulson's use of the Peruvian 0-8-4 was able to destroy him, as it atomized everything its laser beam hits. **'Regenerative Healing Factor': Not only did the GH.325 fix all the injuries in his body that have been slowly-killing him for decades, but it also made him more-durable and able to survive any attack. Gunshots had no effect on him, and some time after Deathlok attacked him and seemingly-killed him, he was able to get back up again (albeit very-badly burned, scarred and injured, barely-able to walk) and go through the Deathlok Project treatment to become more of a cyborg than before. As stated before, the Peruvian 0-8-4 was able to disintegrate him. Quotes }} Trivia *In the original Marvel comics, Garrett was a C.I.A. member before joining S.H.I.E.L.D., later becoming a cyborg in order to survive life-threatening injuries in the line of duty. His appearance at the end of the Season 1 finale "Beginning of the End" resembles his comic-book cyborg form. *Whether or not Garrett gained the ability to really see the future from the GH.325 is unknown. **Ironically, during Season 2 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Raina became an Inhuman and developed the power to see the future, predicting the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron ''and ''Captain America: Civil War, and making her truly clairvoyant, whereas Garrett relied on knowledge and educated guesses to predict an event. *Garrett is the first antagonist on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to have been killed by Phil Coulson, followed up by Daniel Whitehall in Season 2 and Grant Ward in Season 3 (though Ward "returned" as Hive). Similarly to Hive, Garrett's knowledge of the universe made him arrogant and insane, which became his undoing. *While under his GH.325-induced state, Garrett claimed to be able to feel the universe; similarly, in the movie X-Men: Apocalypse, released 2 years after the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Apocalypse said while Jean Grey released the Phoenix Force upon him "All is revealed". Similarly to Apocalypse, Garrett's knowledge of the universe's deepest secrets drove him insane. *In the first part of Season 3's two-part finale "Absolution", Skye (renamed Daisy Johnson) said to Coulson that Ward had been brainwashed. While this statement is mostly ambiguous, it is entirely-possible that Garrett had really brainwashed Ward in the same way that Daniel Whitehall brainwashed Agent 33 in Season 2; Ward was completely loyal to Garrett up until his insanity in his final hours, not really caring much for the true ideals of HYDRA or S.H.I.E.L.D., and after he died, Ward became saddened and started looking for a purpose to his life. Agent 33, upon learning of Whitehall's death at Coulson's hand, behaved similarly to Ward, and so they both sought to gain "closure" together. To this day, it is unknown for certain if Ward was really under mind-control, as he did feel attached to Coulson, Skye and the team, only to abandon it all at the end of Season 2 after Agent 33's death at his own hand (by accident). He still found purpose in rebuilding HYDRA on his own, greatly disliking Gideon Malick until learning about Hive, whom he sought to bring back to Earth. *Garrett also appeared in the the comic book Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Chase, which is set between the episodes "Seeds" and "T.R.A.C.K.S.". External links *John Garrett - Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki Navigation Category:Marvel Villains Category:Leader Category:Live Action Villains Category:TV Show Villains Category:Mastermind Category:Male Category:Usurper Category:Friend of a Hero Category:Master of Hero Category:Incriminators Category:Con Artists Category:Spy Category:Liars Category:Murderer Category:Opportunists Category:Master Manipulator Category:Master Orator Category:Corrupt Officials Category:Criminals Category:Conspirators Category:Archenemy Category:Charismatic Category:Hypocrites Category:Fighters Category:Psychopath Category:Immortality Seeker Category:Social Darwinists Category:Oppressors Category:Thugs Category:Corrupting Influence Category:Delusional Category:Big Bads Category:Immortals Category:Arrogant Category:Deceased Category:Failure-Intolerant Category:Adaptational Villainy Category:Mechanically Modified Category:Terrorists Category:Chaotic Evil Category:Brainwashers Category:Doctors and Scientists Category:God Wannabe Category:Hegemony Category:Thief Category:Egotist Category:Mutilators Category:Posthumous Category:Abusers Category:Supervillains Category:Kidnapper Category:Elderly Category:Control Freaks Category:Greedy Category:Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Villains Category:Deal Makers Category:Martial Artists Category:Pure Evil Category:Supremacists Category:Comic Book Villains Category:Destroyer of Innocence Category:Science Fantasy Villains Category:Servant of Hero Category:Animal Cruelty Category:Blackmailers Category:Traitor Category:Legacy Category:Fallen Heroes Category:Evil Vs. Evil Category:Totalitarians Category:Evil Creator Category:Homicidal Category:Paranoid Category:Power Hungry Category:Betrayed Category:Cowards Category:Vengeful Category:Strategic Category:Torturer Category:Sadists